Service data transmission method and device

ABSTRACT

A service data transmission method and a device are disclosed, to resolve a problem in the prior art that a network side cannot provide targeted services for different types of NB-IoT services. The method includes: determining, by an access network device, first information of service data to be sent by a terminal, where the first information includes at least one of a service type and a priority; then receiving, by the access network device, the service data sent by the terminal by using a NAS signaling message; and sending, by the access network device, the service data and the first information to a gateway, so that the gateway charges the service data based on the first information after receiving the service data and the first information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/261,026, filed on Jan. 29, 2019, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2016/092521, filed on Jul. 30, 2016.All of the aforementioned patent applications are hereby incorporated byreference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a service data transmission methodand a device.

BACKGROUND

The Internet of things (IoT) is a technology of mounting sensors tovarious real objects, connecting the sensors by using the Internet, andthen running a particular program, to implement remote control of anobject or direct communication between objects.

The 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is conducting aresearch on a project of Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), tosupport an Internet of Things device with ultra-low complexity, limitedpower, and a low data rate through enhancement of an overallarchitecture.

An NB-IoT terminal, for example, a water meter, an electricity meter, ora sensor, mainly sends meter reading data or monitoring data whose datavolume is very small, for example, generally of dozens to hundreds ofbytes, and a sending interval is relatively large. Therefore, to avoid awaste of transmission resources, a small data packet of the NB-IoTterminal is encapsulated in a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling messagefor transmission.

However, in the manner of transmitting the data of the NB-IoT terminalby using the foregoing NAS signaling message, a network side cannotlearn of service data information of the NB-IoT terminal, and thereforecannot provide targeted services for different types of NB-IoT services.

SUMMARY

The present application provides a service data transmission method anda device, to resolve a problem in the prior art that a network sidecannot provide targeted services for different types of NB-IoT services.

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a service data transmission method, including:

determining, by an access network device, first information of servicedata to be sent by a terminal, where the first information includes atleast one of a service type and a priority; then receiving, by theaccess network device, the service data sent by the terminal by using aNAS signaling message; and sending, by the access network device, theservice data and the first information to a gateway by using a mobilitymanagement entity, so that the gateway charges the service data based onthe first information after receiving the service data and the firstinformation. Before the terminal sends the service data by using the NASsignaling message, the access network device determines the firstinformation of the service data to be sent by the terminal; and then theaccess network device sends the determined first information to thegateway, so that the gateway provides a charging service for the servicedata of the terminal, to resolve a problem in the prior art that anetwork side cannot provide targeted services for different types ofNB-IoT services due to that the service data is transmitted by using theNAS signaling message.

In a possible design, after the determining, by an access networkdevice, first information of service data to be sent by a terminal andbefore the receiving, by the access network device, the service datasent by the terminal by using a non-access stratum (NAS) signalingmessage, the access network device performs transmission resourcemanagement on the service data based on the first information.Specifically, the access network device allocates, based on the firstinformation, a transmission resource to transmission of the service databy the terminal, so that the terminal sends the service data to theaccess network device by using the transmission resource allocated bythe access network device.

In a possible design, the determining, by an access network device,first information of service data to be sent by a terminal may beimplemented in the following manners:

First Implementation:

The access network device receives the first information sent by theterminal.

Second Implementation:

The access network device receives second information sent by theterminal, where the second information includes the service type and/orthe priority that is used by the terminal to request to transmit theservice data. The access network device sends the second information tothe mobility management entity. The access network device receives firstservice authorization information sent by the mobility managemententity, where the first service authorization information is used toindicate that the service type and/or the priority is allowed to be usedby the terminal to transmit the service data. The access network devicedetermines the first information based on the first serviceauthorization information.

In a possible design, the first service authorization information mayinclude indication information, and the indication information is usedto indicate that the second information is allowed.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a service data transmission method, including:

receiving, by a mobility management entity, a non-access stratum (NAS)signaling message, where the NAS signaling message carries service dataof a terminal; obtaining, by the mobility management entity, firstinformation of the service data, where the first information includes atleast one of a service type of the service data and a priority of theservice data; and sending, by the mobility management entity, theservice data and the first information to a gateway, so that the gatewaycharges the service data based on the first information after receivingthe service data and the first information. The mobility managemententity obtains the first information of the service data after receivingthe service data in the NAS signaling message, and sends the firstinformation to the gateway after obtaining the first information, sothat the gateway provides a charging service for the service data of theterminal, to resolve a problem in the prior art that a network sidecannot provide targeted services for different types of NB-IoT servicesdue to that the service data is transmitted by using the NAS signalingmessage.

In a possible design, the obtaining, by the mobility management entity,first information of the service data may be implemented in thefollowing manners:

First Possible Implementation:

The mobility management entity receives the first information sent by anaccess network device.

Second Possible Implementation:

The mobility management entity receives the first information sent bythe terminal by using a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message.

In a possible design, before receiving the first information sent by theaccess network device, the mobility management entity receives secondinformation sent by the access network device, where the secondinformation includes the service type and/or the priority that is usedby the terminal to request to transmit the service data. The mobilitymanagement entity authorizes the second information based onsubscription information of the terminal to obtain first serviceauthorization information, where the first service authorizationinformation is used to indicate that the service type and/or thepriority is used allowed to be used by the terminal to transmit theservice data. The mobility management entity sends the first serviceauthorization information to the access network device, so that theaccess network device determines the first information based on thefirst service authorization information.

In a possible design, the obtaining, by the mobility management entity,first information of the service data may be implemented in thefollowing manner:

The mobility management entity receives the first information sent bythe terminal.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a service data transmission method, including:

receiving, by a gateway, service data of a terminal and firstinformation of the service data that are sent by a mobility managemententity, where the first information includes at least one of a servicetype and a priority; and

charging, by the gateway, the service data based on the firstinformation.

According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a service data transmission method, including:

receiving, by an access network device, service data sent by a mobilitymanagement entity by using a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message;receiving, by the access network device, information that is about theservice data and that is sent by the mobility management entity, wherethe information about the service data includes at least one of aservice type of the service data and a priority of the service data; andperforming, by the access network device, transmission resourcemanagement on the service data based on the information about theservice data. For downlink service data, the mobility management entitysends the service data and the information about the service data to theaccess network device; and the access network device allocates, based onthe information about the service data, a transmission resource totransmission of the service data by the terminal, to resolve a problemin the prior art that a network side cannot provide targeted servicesfor different types of NB-IoT services due to that the service data istransmitted by using the NAS signaling message.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationfurther provides a service data transmission method, including:

receiving, by a mobility management entity, service data of a terminalthat is sent by a gateway; obtaining, by the mobility management entity,first information of the service data, where the first informationincludes at least one of a service type and a priority; sending, by themobility management entity, a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling messageto an access network device, where the NAS signaling message carries theservice data; and sending, by the mobility management entity, the firstinformation to the access network device, so that the access networkdevice performs transmission resource management on the service databased on the first information after receiving the first information.After receiving the service data of the terminal, the mobilitymanagement entity obtains the first information of the service data, andthen sends the service data and the first information of the servicedata to the access network device, so that the access network deviceperforms transmission resource management on the service data based onthe first information, to resolve a problem in the prior art that anetwork side cannot provide targeted services for different types ofNB-IoT services due to that the service data is transmitted by using theNAS signaling message.

In a possible implementation, the obtaining, by the mobility managemententity, first information of the service data may be implemented in thefollowing manners:

First Implementation:

The mobility management entity determines the first information based onsubscription information of the terminal.

Second Implementation:

The mobility management entity obtains the first information from aheader of a data packet of the service data, where the header of thedata packet of the service data carries the first information.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a service data transmission method, including:

receiving, by a mobility management entity, a request message, where therequest message includes transmission mode indication information, andthe transmission mode indication information is used to instruct aterminal to transmit service data by using a non-access stratum (NAS)signaling message; determining, by the mobility management entity,second service authorization information of the terminal based onsubscription information of the terminal if the mobility managemententity determines, based on the request message, that the terminaltransmits the service data by using the non-access stratum (NAS)signaling message, where the second service authorization informationincludes information used to indicate that a service type and/or apriority that is used by the terminal to transmit the service data isallowed; and sending, by the mobility management entity, the secondservice authorization information to the terminal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when determiningthat the terminal transmits the service data by using the NAS signalingmessage, the mobility management entity sends the second serviceauthorization information of the terminal to the terminal, so that theterminal determines information about the sent service data based on thesecond service authorization information, and notifies an access networkdevice of the information about the service data; and the access networkdevice provides a service for transmission of the service data based onthe information about the service data, to resolve a problem in theprior art that a network side cannot provide targeted services fordifferent types of NB-IoT services due to that the service data istransmitted by using the NAS signaling message.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a service data transmission method, including:

sending, by a terminal, a request message to a mobility managemententity, where the request message includes transmission mode indicationinformation, and the transmission mode indication information is used toinstruct the terminal to transmit service data by using a non-accessstratum (NAS) signaling message; receiving, by the terminal, secondservice authorization information sent by the mobility managemententity, where the second service authorization information includesinformation used to indicate that a service type and/or a priority thatis used by the terminal to transmit the service data is allowed;determining, by the terminal, information about the service data basedon the second service authorization information, where the informationabout the service data includes at least one of the service type of theservice data and the priority of the service data; and sending, by theterminal, the information about the service data to the access networkdevice.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when determiningthat the terminal transmits the service data by using the NAS signalingmessage, the mobility management entity sends the second serviceauthorization information of the terminal to the terminal, so that theterminal determines the information about the sent service data based onthe second service authorization information, and notifies the accessnetwork device of the information about the service data; and the accessnetwork device provides a service for transmission of the service databased on the information about the service data, to resolve a problem inthe prior art that a network side cannot provide targeted services fordifferent types of NB-IoT services due to that the service data istransmitted by using the NAS signaling message.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides an access network device, including:

a processor, configured to determine first information of service datato be sent by a terminal, where the first information includes at leastone of a service type and a priority;

a receiver, configured to receive the service data sent by the terminalby using a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message; and

a communications interface, configured to send the service data receivedby the receiver and the first information determined by the processor toa gateway by using a mobility management entity, so that the gatewaycharges the service data based on the first information.

In a possible design, after the processor determines the firstinformation of the service data to be sent by the terminal and beforethe receiver receives the service data sent by the terminal by using thenon-access stratum (NAS) signaling message, the processor is furtherconfigured to perform transmission resource management on the servicedata based on the first information.

In a possible design, the receiver is further configured to receive thefirst information sent by the terminal.

In a possible design, the receiver is further configured to receivesecond information sent by the terminal, where the second informationincludes the service type and/or the priority that is used by theterminal to request to transmit the service data.

The communications interface is further configured to send the secondinformation to the mobility management entity.

The communications interface is further configured to receive firstservice authorization information sent by the mobility managemententity, where the first service authorization information is used toindicate that the service type and/or the priority is allowed to be usedby the terminal to transmit the service data

The processor is specifically configured to determine the firstinformation based on the first service authorization information.

In a possible design, the first service authorization informationincludes indication information, and the indication information is usedto indicate that the second information is allowed.

According to a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a mobility management entity, including:

a communications interface, configured to receive a non-access stratum(NAS) signaling message, where the NAS signaling message carries servicedata of a terminal; and

a processor, configured to obtain first information of the service datareceived by the communications interface, where the first informationincludes at least one of a service type of the service data and apriority of the service data.

The communications interface is further configured to send the servicedata and the first information to a gateway, so that the gateway chargesthe service data.

In a possible design, the communications interface is further configuredto receive the first information sent by an access network device.

Alternatively, the communications interface is further configured toreceive the first information sent by the terminal by using a non-accessstratum (NAS) signaling message.

In a possible design, before receiving the first information sent by theaccess network device, the communications interface is furtherconfigured to receive second information sent by the access networkdevice, where the second information includes the service type and/orthe priority that is used by the terminal to request to transmit theservice data.

The processor is further configured to authorize the second informationbased on subscription information of the terminal to obtain firstservice authorization information, where the first service authorizationinformation is used to indicate that the service type and/or thepriority is allowed to be used by the terminal to transmit the servicedata.

The communications interface is further configured to send the firstservice authorization information to the access network device, so thatthe access network device determines the first information based on thefirst service authorization information.

In a possible design, the receiver is further configured to receive thefirst information sent by the terminal.

According to a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a gateway, including:

a communications interface, configured to receive service data of aterminal and first information of the service data that are sent by amobility management entity, where the first information includes atleast one of a service type and a priority; and

a processor, configured to charge the service data based on the firstinformation received by the communications interface.

According to an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides an access network device, including:

a communications interface, configured to receive service data sent by amobility management entity by using a non-access stratum (NAS) signalingmessage, and receive information that is about the service data and thatis sent by the mobility management entity, where the information aboutthe service data includes at least one of a service type and a priority;and

a processor, configured to perform transmission resource management onthe service data based on the information about the service data.

According to a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a mobility management entity, including:

a communications interface, configured to receive service data of aterminal that is sent by a gateway; and

a processor, configured to obtain first information of the service datareceived by the communications interface, where the first informationincludes at least one of a service type and a priority.

The communications interface is configured to send a non-access stratum(NAS) signaling message to an access network device, where the NASsignaling message carries the service data; and send the firstinformation to the access network device, so that the access networkdevice performs transmission resource management on the service databased on the first information.

In a possible design, the processor is specifically configured todetermine the first information based on subscription information of theterminal.

Alternatively, the processor is specifically configured to obtain thefirst information from a header of a data packet of the service data,where the header of the data packet of the service data carries thefirst information.

According to a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides a mobility management entity, including:

a communications interface, configured to receive a request message,where the request message includes transmission mode indicationinformation, and the transmission mode indication information is used toinstruct a terminal to transmit service data by using a non-accessstratum (NAS) signaling message; and

a processor, configured to determine second service authorizationinformation of the terminal based on subscription information of theterminal when determining, based on the request message, that theterminal transmits the service data by using the non-access stratum(NAS) signaling message, where the second service authorizationinformation includes information used to indicate that a service typeand/or a priority that is used by the terminal to transmit the servicedata is allowed.

The communications interface is further configured to send the secondservice authorization information to the terminal.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

According to a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides a terminal, including:

a transmitter, configured to send a request message to a mobilitymanagement entity, where the request message includes transmission modeindication information, and the transmission mode indication informationis used to instruct the terminal to transmit service data by using anon-access stratum (NAS) signaling message;

a receiver, configured to receive second service authorizationinformation sent by the mobility management entity, where the secondservice authorization information includes information used to indicatethat a service type and/or a priority that is used by the terminal totransmit the service data is allowed; and

a processor, configured to determine information about the service databased on the second service authorization information, where theinformation about the service data includes at least one of the servicetype of the service data and the priority of the service data

The transmitter is further configured to send the information that isabout the service data and that is determined by the processor to theaccess network device.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

According to a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides an access network device, including:

a determining unit, configured to determine first information of servicedata to be sent by a terminal, where the first information includes atleast one of a service type and a priority;

a receiving unit, configured to receive the service data sent by theterminal by using a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message; and

a sending unit, configured to send the service data received by thereceiving unit and the first information determined by the determiningunit to a gateway by using a mobility management entity, so that thegateway charges the service data based on the first information.

In a possible design, the access network device further includes amanagement unit, configured to perform transmission resource managementon the service data based on the first information after the determiningunit determines the first information of the service data to be sent bythe terminal and before the receiving unit receives the service datasent by the terminal by using the non-access stratum (NAS) signalingmessage.

In a possible design, the determining unit is specifically configured todetermine the first information when the receiving unit receives thefirst information sent by the terminal.

In a possible design, the receiving unit is further configured toreceive second information sent by the terminal, where the secondinformation includes the service type and/or the priority that is usedby the terminal to request to transmit the service data.

The sending unit is further configured to send the second information tothe mobility management entity.

The receiving unit is further configured to receive first serviceauthorization information sent by the mobility management entity, wherethe first service authorization information is used to indicate that theservice type and/or the priority is allowed to be used by the terminalto transmit the service data.

The determining unit is specifically configured to determine the firstinformation based on the first service authorization information.

In a possible design, the first service authorization informationincludes indication information, and the indication information is usedto indicate that the second information is allowed.

According to a sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides a mobility management entity, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a non-access stratum (NAS)signaling message, where the NAS signaling message carries service dataof a terminal;

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain first information of the servicedata received by the receiving unit, where the first informationincludes at least one of a service type of the service data and apriority of the service data; and

a sending unit, configured to send the service data and the firstinformation to a gateway, so that the gateway charges the service data.

In a possible design, the obtaining unit is specifically configured toobtain the first information when the receiving unit receives the firstinformation sent by an access network device.

Alternatively, the obtaining unit is specifically configured to obtainthe first information when the receiving unit receives the firstinformation sent by the terminal by using a NAS signaling message.

In a possible design, before receiving the first information sent by theaccess network device, the receiving unit is further configured toreceive second information sent by the access network device, where thesecond information includes the service type and/or the priority that isused by the terminal to request to transmit the service data.

The mobility management entity further includes an authorization unit,configured to authorize the second information based on subscriptioninformation of the terminal to obtain first service authorizationinformation, where the first service authorization information is usedto indicate that the service type and/or the priority is allowed to beused by the terminal to transmit the service data.

The sending unit is further configured to send the first serviceauthorization information to the access network device, so that theaccess network device determines the first information based on thefirst service authorization information.

In a possible design, the obtaining unit is specifically configured toobtain the first information when the receiving unit receives the firstinformation sent by the terminal.

According to a seventeenth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides a gateway, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive service data of a terminal andfirst information of the service data that are sent by a mobilitymanagement entity, where the first information includes at least one ofa service type and a priority; and

a charging unit, configured to charge the service data based on thefirst information.

According to an eighteenth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication further provides an access network device, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive service data sent by a mobilitymanagement entity by using a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message,and receive information that is about the service data and that is sentby the mobility management entity, where the information about theservice data includes at least one of a service type of the service dataand a priority of the service data; and

a management unit, configured to perform transmission resourcemanagement on the service data based on the information that is aboutthe service data and that is received by the receiving unit.

According to a nineteenth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides a mobility management entity, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive service data of a terminal thatis sent by a gateway;

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain first information of the servicedata received by the receiving unit, where the first informationincludes at least one of a service type of the service data and apriority of the service data; and

a sending unit, configured to send a non-access stratum (NAS) signalingmessage to an access network device, where the NAS signaling messagecarries the service data obtained by the obtaining unit; and send thefirst information to the access network device, so that the accessnetwork device performs transmission resource management on the servicedata based on the first information.

In a possible design, the obtaining unit is specifically configured todetermine the first information based on subscription information of theterminal.

Alternatively, the obtaining unit obtains the first information from aheader of a data packet of the service data, where the header of thedata packet of the service data carries the first information.

According to a twentieth aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides a mobility management entity, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a request message, where therequest message includes transmission mode indication information, andthe transmission mode indication information is used to instruct aterminal to transmit service data by using a non-access stratum (NAS)signaling message;

a determining unit, configured to determine second service authorizationinformation of the terminal based on subscription information of theterminal when determining, based on the request message, that theterminal transmits the service data by using the non-access stratum(NAS) signaling message, where the second service authorizationinformation includes information used to indicate a service type and/ora priority that is allowed to be used by the terminal to transmit theservice data; and

a sending unit, configured to send the second service authorizationinformation determined by the determining unit to the terminal.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

According to a twenty-first aspect, an embodiment of the presentapplication provides a terminal, including:

a sending unit, configured to send a request message to a mobilitymanagement entity, where the request message includes transmission modeindication information, and the transmission mode indication informationis used to instruct the terminal to transmit service data by using anon-access stratum (NAS) signaling message;

a receiving unit, configured to receive second service authorizationinformation sent by the mobility management entity, where the secondservice authorization information includes information used to indicatethat a service type and/or a priority that is used by the terminal totransmit the service data is allowed; and

a determining unit, configured to determine information about theservice data based on the second service authorization informationreceived by the receiving unit, where the information about the servicedata includes at least one of the service type of the service data andthe priority of the service data.

The sending unit is further configured to send the information that isabout the service data and that is determined by the determining unit tothe access network device.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram of an EPS network system according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a service data transmission method according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another service data transmission methodaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of still another service data transmission methodaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of yet another service data transmission methodaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a service data transmission methodaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another service data transmissionmethod according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of yet another service data transmission methodaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of still another service data transmissionmethod according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a service data transmission method accordingto Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a service data transmission methodaccording to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a service data transmission method accordingto Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a service data transmission methodaccording to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of an access network device according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of another access network deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a mobility management entity accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of another mobility management entityaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a gateway according to an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of another gateway according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of still another access network deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of yet another access network deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of still another mobility managemententity according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of yet another mobility management entityaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of yet another mobility management entityaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of yet another mobility management entityaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram of a terminal according to an embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram of another terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

To make objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the presentapplication clearer, the following further describes exemplaryembodiments of the present application in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings. The described embodiments are merely some ratherthan all embodiments of the present invention. Other embodimentsobtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art based on the describedembodiments of the present application without creative efforts may fallwithin the protection scope of the present invention.

The present application provides a service data transmission method anda device, to resolve a problem in the prior art that a network sidecannot provide targeted services for different types of NB-IoT services.The method and the device are based on a same inventive concept. Becauseproblem-resolving principles for the method and the device are similar,implementations of the device and the method can be referenced to eachother. No repeated description is provided. “And/or” used in embodimentsof the present application may be an “and” relationship or an “or”relationship. For example, A and/or B may represent that only A exists,only B exists, or both A and B exist.

It should be understood that in embodiments of the present invention, aterminal may be referred to as user equipment (UE), a mobile station(MS), a mobile terminal, and the like. The terminal may communicate withone or more core network devices through a radio access network (RAN).For example, the terminal may be a mobile phone (or referred to as a“cellular” phone) or a computer having a mobile terminal. For example,the terminal may alternatively be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld,computer built-in, or in-vehicle mobile device, which exchanges voiceand/or data with the radio access network.

It should further be understood that technical solutions provided inembodiments of the present application may be applied to variouscommunications systems, for example, a Global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, aWideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, a general packetradio service (GPRS) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and anevolved packet system (EPS).

An example in which technical solutions are applied to the EPS system isused for description in embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 isan architectural diagram of an EPS network system. The EPS networksystem includes: UE, an evolved universal terrestrial radio accessnetwork (EUTRAN), a mobility management entity (MME), a serving gateway(S-GW), a packet data network gateway (P-GW), a serving GPRS supportnode (SGSN), a home subscriber server (HSS), a policy and charging rulesfunction (PCRF), and operator's Internet Protocol (IP) services.

The EUTRAN is a network including a plurality of evolved NodeB (eNB),and can implement a wireless physical layer function and functions ofresource scheduling, radio resource management, radio access control,and mobility management. The eNB is connected to the serving gateway(S-GW) by using a user plane interface S1-U and configured to transmituser data, is connected to the MME by using a control plane interfaceS1-MME, and implements functions such as radio access bearer control byusing an S1-AP protocol.

The MME is mainly responsible for all control plane functions that areof user management and session management and that include NAS signalingand security, tracking area management, selection of the P-GW and theS-GW, and the like.

The S-GW is mainly responsible for data transmission and forwarding,route switching, and the like of the UE, and is used as a local mobilityanchor point during switching of the UE between eNBs. For each UE, onlyone S-GW serves the UE at each time point.

The P-GW is used as an anchor point of a connection to a packet datanetwork (PDN), and is responsible for IP address allocation of the UE,data packet filter of the UE, rate control, charging informationgeneration, and the like.

The HSS is a database used to store user subscription information, andmain functions of the device are storage of the user subscriptioninformation, user authentication, location information management, andthe like.

The PCRF is used for QoS control, gating, charging control, and the likebased on a service data flow.

The SGSN mainly completes functions such as route forwarding of a datapacket, mobility management, session management, logical linkmanagement, authentication and encryption, and bill generation andoutput.

Service types of service data in the NB-IoT are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Service type Service feature Remarks Exception A sensor reportsan exception when detecting an event. report An event rarely happens.Specifically, an event happens once several months or several years. Forexample, an event is about smoke alert detection or power supply failurenotification of an intelligent meter. A size of an application-layerdata packet is 20 bytes. Quasi real time is required. For example, adelay of the exception report is less than 10 s, and an applicationlayer acknowledges each exception report. Periodic A size of anapplication-layer packet is 20-200 bytes. Intelligent meter report Areport period is one day (40%), two hours (40%), one reading, hour(15%), or 30 minutes (5%). intelligent The application layeracknowledges 50% of reports, and agriculture, the periodic report and anacknowledgement are not intelligent required to be retransmitted.environment, and the like Network An application server sends anapplication-layer Request for command command to a terminal to performan action. reporting of It is assumed that application-layer payload ofa downlink intelligent meter command is 20 bytes. reading and A commandperiod is the same as the period of the remote turning periodic report.on/off of a light For 50% of commands, uplink responses are sent; theuplink responses do not need to be conformed; a feature of an uplinkresponse report is the same as that of the periodic report. Software Aperiod of the software upgrading/reconfiguration is 180 upgrading/ days.reconfiguration Application-layer payload is 200-2000 bytes.

Analysis of a quality of service requirement of an NB-IoT service isanalyzed as follows:

Uplink Part:

(1) A priority of the exception report is higher than a priority of theperiodic report, the exception report is required to be preferentiallyscheduled and transmitted to achieve quasi real time, and a delay isless than 10 s. The periodic report is insensitive to the delay andsending may be delayed.

(2) Some terminals send periodic reports or exception reports. A networkside cannot determine a type of a data report sent by a terminal basedon the terminal, and only the terminal learns of the type of the datareport sent by the terminal. Therefore, the network side cannot providea service for the terminal, and the terminal notifies the network sidein the present invention.

(3) Some terminals (for example, an intelligent water meter and anintelligent meter) send exception reports at lower frequency, while someterminals send exception reports at higher frequency (for example, forintelligent stop and pump control). A solution provided in embodimentsof the present application can control use of the exception report.

Downlink Part:

(4) For a downlink, a service priority needs to be distinguished, and acontrol command having a higher priority is preferentially scheduled andtransmitted.

(5) Some users may have both a high-priority control command and alow-priority service, for example, parameter configuration or softwareupgrading, and some users have only a low-priority service, for example,parameter configuration or software upgrading. Therefore, priorities ofdifferent service data sent by different users need to be distinguished.

(6) Frequency of parameter configuration and software upgrading is verylow. Therefore, in embodiments of the present invention, a servicepriority may be distinguished based on a user type. A service of ahigh-priority user is a high-priority service, and a service of alow-priority user is a low-priority service.

First information in embodiments of the present application includes atleast one of a priority of service data of a terminal and a service typeof the service data. Second information includes a service type and/or apriority that is used by the terminal to request to transmit the servicedata.

Embodiment 1

Based on the analysis of the quality of service requirement of theNB-IoT service, this embodiment of the present application provides aservice data transmission method. A mobility management entity receivesservice data of a terminal by using a NAS signaling message, obtainsfirst information of the service data, and then sends the service dataand the first information to a gateway, so that the gateway can providea charging service for the service data based on the first information,to control use of a high-priority report of the terminal. As shown inFIG. 2, the method includes the following steps.

S201: The mobility management entity receives the NAS signaling message,where the NAS signaling message carries the service data of theterminal.

S202: The mobility management entity obtains the first information ofthe service data, where the first information includes at least one of aservice type and a priority.

It should be noted that the service type may be a periodic report or anexception report, and the priority may be a first priority or a secondpriority. The first priority is higher than the second priority.

S203: The mobility management entity sends the service data and thefirst information to the gateway.

S204: After receiving the service data and the first information, thegateway charges the service data based on the first information.

It should be noted that an access network device may be an eNB, themobility management entity may be an MME, and the gateway may be an S-GWor a P-GW. This is not limited herein.

It should be noted that the gateway, the access network device, and themobility management entity in embodiments of the present application maybe individual physical devices, may be software functional entities, ormay be devices having equivalent functions. This is not limited herein.

The mobility management entity receives the service data of the terminalby using the NAS signaling message, obtains the first information of theservice, and then sends the service data and the first information tothe gateway, so that the gateway can provide the charging service forthe service data based on the first information. Charging control isperformed on service data of different service types or priorities, tocontrol the terminal to configure the first information of the servicedata based on a requirement when sending the service data, therebypreventing a low-priority terminal, for example, a terminal (anintelligent water meter) centering on the periodic report, fromoverusing a high-priority report (the exception report), and reducingdata transmission congestion due to that most terminals all send servicedata by using a high priority or the exception report.

In this embodiment of the present application, it may be configured thatcharging is performed based on traffic of the service data, a quantityof data packets of the service data, or a quantity of times of sendingservice data that is of a high priority or whose service type is theexception report. Specifically, different charging standards may be setbased on priorities, and charge of service data of a high priority ishigher than that of service data of a low priority. For example, whenservice data whose traffic is 10 M is sent, if the service data is sentat a high priority, RMB 1 is paid; or if the service data is sent at alow priority, RMB 0.1 is paid. Alternatively, different chargingstandards may be set based on service types, and charge of service datawhose service type is the exception report is high than charge ofservice data whose service type is the periodic report. For example,when service data is sent once, if the service data is sent by using theperiodic report, RMB 0.1 is paid; or if the service data is sent byusing the exception report, RMB 0.5 is paid.

In step S201, the NAS signaling message received by the mobilitymanagement entity may be specifically sent by the access network deviceor by the terminal.

In step S202, the first information obtained by the mobility managemententity may be sent by the access network device or by the terminal.

Therefore, in a first application scenario of Embodiment 1, the mobilitymanagement entity receives the NAS signaling message and the firstinformation of the service data that are sent by the access networkdevice. In a second application scenario of Embodiment 1, the mobilitymanagement entity receives the NAS signaling message and the firstinformation of the service data that are sent by the terminal.

The first implementation scenario of Embodiment 1 is described below,that is, the mobility management entity receives the NAS signalingmessage and the first information of the service data that are sent bythe access network device, and the NAS signaling message carries theservice data of the terminal. Refer to FIG. 3.

S301: The access network device determines the first information of theservice data to be sent by the terminal, where the first informationincludes at least one of the service type and the priority.

S302: The access network device receives the service data sent by theterminal by using the NAS signaling message.

S303: The access network device sends the service data and the firstinformation to the mobility management entity.

S304: The mobility management entity sends the service data and thefirst information to the gateway.

S305: The gateway charges the service data based on the firstinformation.

Optionally, after step S301 and before step S302, that is, after theaccess network device receives the first information sent by theterminal, the method further includes the following step:

S301 a: The access network device performs transmission resourcemanagement on the service data based on the first information.

Specifically, the performing transmission resource management on theservice data based on the first information may be allocating atransmission resource, in other words, a network resource, to theto-be-sent service data based on the first information. For example, theservice type of the service data to be transmitted by the terminal is anexception report, and the exception report has a requirement on atransmission delay. Therefore, the network resource allocated by theaccess network device to the service data needs to satisfy the delayrequirement of the exception report. Further, the terminal sends the NASsignaling message carrying the service data to the access network deviceon the network resource allocated in step S301 a.

Optionally, step S301 may specifically include S3010 a (as shown in FIG.4) or S3010 b to S3010 g (as shown in FIG. 5).

S3010 a: The access network device receives the first information sentby the terminal.

Optionally, the access network device receives a Radio Resource Control(RRC) connection setup request message sent by the terminal, and theconnection setup request message carries the first information.

S3010 b: The access network device receives second information sent bythe terminal.

The second information may include the service type and/or the prioritythat is used by the terminal to request to transmit the service data.

Optionally, the access network device receives an RRC connection setuprequest message sent by the terminal, and the connection setup requestmessage carries the second information.

S3010 c: The access network device sends the second information to themobility management entity.

S3010 d: The mobility management entity receives the second informationsent by the access network device, and authorizes the second informationto obtain first service authorization information.

Specifically, when authorizing the received second information that issent by the access network device, the mobility management entityauthorizes the second information based on subscription information ofthe terminal to obtain the first service authorization information.

The first service authorization information may include indicationinformation, and the indication information is used to indicate that thesecond information is allowed or rejected.

S3010 e: The mobility management entity sends the first serviceauthorization information to the access network device.

S3010 f: The access network device receives the first serviceauthorization information sent by the mobility management entity, wherethe first service authorization information is used to indicate that theservice type and/or the priority is allowed to be used by the terminalto transmit the service data.

S3010 g: The access network device determines the first informationbased on the first service authorization information.

The first service authorization information may include the indicationinformation, and the indication information is used to indicate that thesecond information is allowed.

The first information includes at least one of the service type of theservice data to be sent by the terminal and the priority of the servicedata.

Specifically, if the first service authorization information indicatesthat the second information is allowed, the first information determinedby the access network device is the same as the second information. Ifthe first service authorization information indicates that the secondinformation is rejected, the first information determined by the accessnetwork device is different from the second information. For example,the service type included in the second information is the exceptionreport. If the first service authorization information indicates thatthe terminal is allowed to send the exception report, the service typeincluded in the first information determined by the access networkdevice is the exception report. If the first service authorizationinformation indicates that the terminal is rejected to send theexception report, the service type included in the first informationdetermined by the access network device is the periodic report.

Specifically, when authorizing the second information to obtain thefirst service authorization information, the mobility management entityauthorizes the second information based on subscription information ofthe terminal to obtain the first service authorization information.

In a possible implementation, the subscription information may include apriority or a service type of service data allowed to be sent by theterminal. For example, the service type that is of the service dataallowed to be sent by the terminal and that is included in thesubscription information is the periodic report. If the secondinformation is the exception report, the first service authorizationinformation obtained by authorizing the second information by themobility management entity based on the subscription informationindicates that the second information is rejected.

In this embodiment of the present invention, a priority or a servicetype of service data that can be sent is configured for each terminal,to prevent a low-priority terminal (a terminal centering on the periodicreport, for example, an intelligent water meter) from using ahigh-priority report, thereby avoiding data transmission congestion dueto that most terminals all send service data by using a high-priorityreport.

In another possible implementation, the subscription information mayinclude a priority of service data allowed to be sent by the terminaland quota information corresponding to the priority, and the quotainformation corresponding to the priority is used to indicate a volumeof service data that is of the priority and that is allowed to be sentwithin a particular time. The priority herein is a high priority. Thevolume may be traffic of the service data, a quantity of times ofsending the service data, or the like.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the priority of the servicedata that can be sent and the quota information corresponding to thepriority are configured for each terminal, so that when service datathat is of a high priority and that is sent by the terminal exceeds thequota information, a request is rejected, and the terminal sends theservice data at a low priority, to prevent a low-priority terminal (aterminal centering on the periodic report, for example, an intelligentwater meter) from overusing a high-priority report, thereby avoidingdata transmission congestion due to that most terminals all send servicedata by using a high-priority report.

In still another possible implementation, the subscription informationmay include a service type of service data allowed to be sent by theterminal and quota information corresponding to the service type, andthe quota information corresponding to the service type is used toindicate a volume of service data that is of the service type and thatis allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the service type of theservice data that can be sent and the quota information are configuredfor each terminal, so that when service data that is sent by theterminal and whose service type is the exception report exceeds thequota information, a request is rejected, and the service data is sentbased on the periodic report, to prevent a low-priority terminal (aterminal centering on the periodic report, for example, an intelligentwater meter) from overusing the exception report, thereby avoiding datatransmission congestion due to that most terminals all transmit servicedata by using the exception report.

Optionally, when the service type that is of the service data and thatis included in the second information that is received by the accessnetwork device and sent by the terminal is the exception report or thepriority of the service data is a high priority, the access networkdevice sends the second information of the service data to the mobilitymanagement entity to authorize. Therefore, before step S3010 c, themethod further includes S3010 cb: The access network device determinesthat a service type that is of the service data and that is included inthe received second information sent by the terminal is an exceptionreport or a priority is a high priority.

If determining that the service type that is of the service data andthat is included in the received second information sent by the terminalis the periodic report or the priority is a low priority, the accessnetwork device may not request the mobility management entity toauthorize the second information but directly send the secondinformation to the gateway, so that the gateway charges the servicedata.

The embodiment corresponding to FIG. 4 is specifically described belowby using an EPS system as an example, as shown in FIG. 6. Descriptionsare as follows by using an example in which the access network device isa base station, the terminal is referred to as UE, the mobilitymanagement entity is an MME, and the gateway includes an S-GW and aP-GW.

S601: The UE initiates an RRC connection setup request message to thebase station (BS).

An RRC setup cause value indicates first information. The firstinformation includes at least one of a priority of the service data anda service type of the service data. The priority is used as an examplein this embodiment. The priority includes a first priority and a secondpriority, and the first priority is higher than the second priority.

S602: The base station allocates, based on an RRC setup cause valueindicated by the UE, a transmission resource to transmission of servicedata by the terminal.

S603: The UE encapsulates the service data into a NAS signaling messageand sends the NAS signaling message to the base station.

Specifically, the NAS signaling message may be transmitted to the basestation by using an RRC connection setup complete message.

When sending the service data, the terminal sends the service data tothe base station by using the transmission resource allocated by thebase station.

S604: The base station receives the NAS signaling message sent by theterminal, and sends the NAS signaling message and a prioritycorresponding to the service data to the MME.

When sending the service data and the priority of the service data tothe MME, the base station may send the service data and the priority byusing an interface SlAP initial UE message.

S605: After receiving the NAS signaling message and the priority of theservice data, the MME obtains the service data from the NAS signalingmessage, and sends the service data and the priority of the service datato the S-GW.

Specifically, the MME encapsulates the service data into a GPRSTunneling Protocol-User Plane (GTP-U) data packet and sends the GTP-Udata packet to the S-GW. A header of the GTP-U data packet carries thepriority of the service data.

S606: The S-GW charges the service data based on the priority of theservice data. The S-GW may generate an S-GW charging data record (CDR),and the CDR records the priority of the service data.

S607: The S-GW sends the service data and the priority of the servicedata to the P-GW.

Specifically, the S-GW encapsulates the service data into the GTP-U datapacket and sends the GTP-U data packet to the S-GW, and the header ofthe GTP-U data packet carries the priority of the service data.

S608: The P-GW charges the service data based on the priority of theservice data.

The P-GW may generate a P-GW CDR, and the CDR records the priority ofthe service data.

Before sending the service data, the terminal sends the priority of theservice data to the base station, so that after receiving the servicedata sent by the terminal, the base station sends the service data andthe priority of the service data to the P-GW and the S-GW by using theMME, and the P-GW and the S-GW perform charging control on the servicedata based on the priority of the service data, that is, differentcharging standards are used for transmission of high-priority servicedata and transmission of low-priority service data. The base stationsends the priority of the service data to the P-GW and the S-GW whentransmitting the service data, so that the P-GW and the S-GW provide acharging service for the service data based on the priority of theservice data. In addition, a low-priority terminal (a terminal centeringon a periodic report) is further prevented from transmitting servicedata by overusing a high priority report, thereby reducing datatransmission congestion due to that most terminals all send service databy using a high-priority report.

The embodiment corresponding to FIG. 5 is specifically described belowby using an EPS system as an example, as shown in FIG. 7. The accessnetwork device is an NB-IoT BS, the terminal is NB-IoT UE, the mobilitymanagement entity is an MME, and the gateway includes an S-GW and aP-GW.

S701: The UE initiates an RRC connection setup request message to thebase station.

An RRC setup cause value in the RRC connection setup request messageindicates second information. The second information includes a priorityand/or a service type that is used by the UE to request to transmitservice data. The service type is used as an example in this embodiment.The service type may be an exception report or a periodic report, and afirst priority is higher than a second priority.

S702: After receiving the RRC connection setup request message, the basestation determines that a service type indicated by an RRC setup causevalue indicated by the UE is an exception report and requests, from theMME, authorization of sending the exception report.

S703: The MME determines first service authorization information forsecond information of service data based on subscription information,where the first service authorization information is used to indicatethat the service type is allowed to be used by the terminal to transmitthe service data.

In a possible implementation, the subscription information may includethe service type that is of the service data and that can be used toallow the terminal to transmit the service data. If the subscriptioninformation indicates that the terminal is not allowed to send theexception report, the first service authorization information instructsthe access network device to schedule, based on the periodic report, atransmission resource required by the service data. If the subscriptioninformation indicates that the terminal is allowed to send the exceptionreport, the first service authorization information instructs the accessnetwork device to schedule, based on the exception report, atransmission resource required by the service data. That is, the firstservice authorization information indicates that the second informationis allowed or rejected.

In a possible implementation, the subscription information may includethe exception report used to allow the terminal to transmit the servicedata and quota information corresponding to the exception report, andthe quota information is used to indicate a volume of service data whoseservice type is the exception report and that is allowed to be sentwithin a particular time. The volume may be traffic of the service data,a quantity of times of sending the service data, or the like. Whendetermining that a volume of service data whose service type is theexception report and that needs to be sent by the terminal exceeds thequota information, the MME rejects a request and instructs the accessnetwork device to schedule the transmission resource of the service databased on the periodic report. When determining that a volume of servicedata whose service type is the exception report and that needs to besent by the terminal does not exceed the quota information, the MMEaccepts a request and instructs the access network device to schedulethe transmission resource of the service data based on the exceptionreport. Alternatively, the MME may generate third service authorizationinformation based on the subscription information, and send the thirdservice authorization information to the access network device. Thethird service authorization information indicates that the terminal isallowed to transmit service data by using the exception report andincludes quota information corresponding to the exception report, sothat when determining, based on the third service authorizationinformation, that the terminal can send the service data whose servicetype is the exception report, the access network device allocates, basedon the exception report, the transmission resource to the service dataneeding to be sent by the terminal. Otherwise, the access network deviceallocates, based on the periodic report, the transmission resource tothe service data needing to be sent by the terminal.

S704: The MME sends the first service authorization information to thebase station.

S705: The base station allocates, based on the first serviceauthorization information, a transmission resource to transmission ofthe service data by the terminal.

S706: After receiving the service data sent by the terminal by using aNAS signaling message, the base station forwards the service data to theMME, and notifies the MME that the service type of the service data isthe exception report.

S707: After receiving the service data and the service type of theservice data, the MME sends the service data and the service type of theservice data to the S-GW.

Specifically, the MME encapsulates the service data into a GTP-U datapacket and sends the GTP-U data packet to the S-GW. A header of theGTP-U data packet carries the service type of the service data.

S708: The S-GW charges the service data based on the service type of theservice data. The S-GW may generate a CDR, and the CDR records theservice type of the service data.

S709: The S-GW sends the service data and the service type of theservice data to the P-GW.

Specifically, the S-GW encapsulates the service data into the GTP-U datapacket and sends the GTP-U data packet to the S-GW, and the header ofthe GTP-U data packet carries the service type of the service data.

S710: The P-GW charges the service data based on the service type of theservice data.

The P-GW may generate a P-GW CDR, and the CDR records the service typeof the service data.

The second implementation scenario of Embodiment 1 is described below,that is, the mobility management entity receives the NAS signalingmessage sent by the terminal. The NAS signaling message carries theservice data of the terminal and the first information of the servicedata. Refer to FIG. 8.

S801: The mobility management entity receives the service data andinformation about the service data that are sent by the terminal byusing the NAS signaling message, where the information about the servicedata includes at least one of the service type and the priority.

S802: The mobility management entity sends the service data and theinformation about the service data to the gateway.

S803: The gateway charges the service data based on the informationabout the service data.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the terminal sends theservice data and the information about the service data to the mobilitymanagement entity by using the NAS signaling message, and the mobilitymanagement entity sends the service data and the information about theservice data to the gateway, so that the gateway charges the servicedata based on the information about the service data. Charging controlis performed on service data of different service types or priorities,to control the terminal to configure the service type or the priority ofthe service data based on a requirement when sending the service data,thereby preventing a low-priority terminal, for example, a terminal (anintelligent water meter) centering on the periodic report, fromoverusing a high-priority report (the exception report).

The second implementation scenario corresponding to FIG. 8 isspecifically described below by using an EPS system as an example, asshown in FIG. 9. The access network device is a base station, theterminal is UE, the mobility management entity includes an MME, and thegateway includes an S-GW and a P-GW.

S901: The base station receives an RRC connection setup complete messagesent by the terminal, where the message carries a NAS signaling messageincluding service data and information about the service data.

S902: The base station forwards the received NAS signaling message tothe MME.

S903: The MME obtains the service data and the information about theservice data from the NAS signaling message sent by the terminal, wherethe information about the service data includes at least one of aservice type of the service data and a priority of the service data. Inthis embodiment, an example in which the information about the servicedata includes the priority of the service data is used.

S904: After obtaining the service data and the priority of the servicedata, the MME sends the service data and the priority of the servicedata to the S-GW.

Specifically, the MME encapsulates the service data into a GTP-U datapacket and sends the GTP-U data packet to the S-GW, and a header of theGTP-U data packet carries the priority of the service data.

S905: The S-GW charges the service data based on the priority of theservice data. The S-GW may generate a charging data S-GW CDR, and theCDR records the priority of the service data.

S906: The S-GW sends the service data and the priority of the servicedata to the P-GW.

Specifically, the S-GW encapsulates the service data into the GTP-U datapacket and sends the GTP-U data packet to the S-GW, and the header ofthe GTP-U data packet carries the priority of the service data.

S907: The P-GW charges the service data based on the priority of theservice data.

The P-GW may generate a P-GW CDR, and the CDR records the priority ofthe service data.

Embodiment 2

Based on the analysis of the quality of service requirement of theNB-IoT service, this embodiment of the present application provides aservice data transmission method. A network side sends second serviceauthorization information of a terminal to the terminal, and the secondservice authorization information is used to indicate a service typeand/or a priority that is of service data that is allowed to be used bythe terminal to transmit the service data, so that the terminaldetermines, based on the second service authorization information,information about the sent service data, where the information about theservice data includes at least one of the service type of the servicedata and the priority of the service data, and notifies a base stationof the information about the service data, so that the base stationprovides a service for transmission of the service data based on theinformation about the service data. As shown in FIG. 10, the methodincludes the following steps.

S1001: The terminal sends a request message to a mobility managemententity, where the request message includes transmission mode indicationinformation, and the transmission mode indication information is used toinstruct the terminal to transmit the service data by using a NASsignaling message.

S1002: The mobility management entity receives the request message sentby the terminal.

S1003: If the mobility management entity determines, based on therequest message, that the terminal transmits the service data by usingthe NAS signaling message, the mobility management entity determines thesecond service authorization information of the terminal based onsubscription information of the terminal.

The second service authorization information includes information usedto indicate the service type and/or the priority that is allowed to beused by the terminal to transmit the service data.

S1004: The mobility management entity sends the second serviceauthorization information to the terminal.

S1005: The terminal receives the second service authorizationinformation sent by the mobility management entity.

S1006: The terminal determines the information about the service databased on the second service authorization information.

The information about the service data includes at least one of theservice type of the service data and the priority of the service data.

S1007: The terminal sends the information about the service data to anaccess network device.

Optionally, when the terminal initiates an attach request message to anetwork, the mobility management entity obtains the subscriptioninformation of the terminal from an HS S.

The subscription information may include a priority and/or a servicetype of service data allowed to be sent by the terminal. The mobilitymanagement entity generates the second service authorization informationbased on the priority and/or the service type of the service dataallowed to be sent by the terminal, and sends the second serviceauthorization information to the terminal, so that the terminaldetermines the service type and/or the priority of the service dataallowed to be sent; and when receiving service data that an applicationlayer requests to send, sets a priority of the service data and/or aservice type of the service data based on the second serviceauthorization information, to prevent a low-priority terminal fromsending service data at a high priority.

Alternatively, the subscription information may include a priority ofservice data allowed to be sent by the terminal and second quotainformation, and the second quota information is used to indicate avolume of service data that is of the priority and that is allowed to besent within a particular time. The priority herein is a high priority.The volume may be traffic of the service data, a quantity of times ofsending the service data, or the like. The mobility management entitygenerates the second service authorization information based on thepriority of the service data allowed to be sent by the terminal and thesecond quota information, and sends the second service authorizationinformation to the terminal, so that when determining that a volume ofsent service data of a high priority does not reach the second quotainformation, the terminal may send the service data at a high priority.When determining that a volume of sent service data of a high priorityreaches the second quota information, the terminal can send the servicedata only at a low priority, to prevent a low-priority terminal fromsending service data by overusing a high priority report.

Alternatively, the subscription information may indicate that a servicetype of service data allowed to be sent by the terminal is an exceptionreport and include first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data whose servicetype is the exception report and that is allowed to be sent within aparticular time. The mobility management entity generates the secondservice authorization information based on the service type of theservice data allowed to be sent by the terminal and the first quotainformation and sends the second service authorization information tothe terminal, so that when determining that a volume of sent servicedata whose service type is the exception report does not reach the firstquota information, the terminal may send the service data based on theexception report. When determining that a volume of sent service datawhose service type is the exception report reaches the first quotainformation, the terminal can send the service data based only on aperiodic report, to prevent a low-priority terminal (a terminalcentering on the periodic report) from sending service data by overusinga high priority report.

Embodiment 2 is specifically described below by using an EPS system asan example, as shown in FIG. 11. The access network device is a basestation, the terminal is referred to as UE, the mobility managemententity is an MME, and the gateway includes an S-GW and a P-GW.

S1101: The UE sends a request message to the MME, where the requestmessage includes transmission mode indication information, and thetransmission mode indication information is used to instruct a terminalto transmit service data by using a NAS signaling message. Specifically,when initiating an attach request, the UE sends the transmission modeindication information to the mobility management entity.

S1102: After receiving the request message, the MME obtains subscriptioninformation of the UE from an HSS, and determines second serviceauthorization information based on the subscription information. Thesecond service authorization information includes information used toindicate that a service type and/or a priority that is used by theterminal to transmit the service data is allowed. The second serviceauthorization information may further include first quota information,and the first quota information is used to indicate a volume of servicedata that is of the service type and that is allowed to be sent within aparticular time. The second service authorization information mayfurther include second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

That is, it is determined whether the UE can send service data of a highpriority or send an exception report, and the volume of the service dataallowed to be sent is determined.

S1103: The MME notifies the UE of the second service authorizationinformation by using an attach accept message.

S1104: When an application layer requests to send service data or anexception report at a high priority, the UE determines information aboutthe service data based on the second service authorization information.The information about the service data includes at least one of theservice type of the service data and the priority of the service data.

For example, the second service authorization information indicates avolume of service data that is of the high priority and that is allowedto be sent, and when determining that a volume of sent service data ofthe high priority does not reach the allowed volume, the UE may send theservice data at a high priority. When a volume of sent service data ofthe high priority reaches the allowed volume, the UE sends the servicedata at a low priority.

S1105: The UE sends an RRC connection setup request message to the basestation, and sets an RRC connection setup cause value based on thedetermined information about the service data.

S1106: The base station allocates, based on the RRC setup cause value, atransmission resource to transmission of the service data by the UE.

Therefore, the UE sends the service data to the base station by usingthe NAS signaling message based on the transmission resource allocatedby the base station.

S1107: After receiving the service data sent by the UE, the base stationforwards the service data to the MME, and notifies the MME of theinformation about the service data.

S1108: After receiving the service data and the information about theservice data, the MME sends the service data and the information aboutthe service data to the S-GW.

Specifically, the MME encapsulates the service data into a GTP-U datapacket and sends the GTP-U data packet to the S-GW. A header of theGTP-U data packet carries the information about the service data.

S1109: The S-GW charges the service data based on the information aboutthe service data. The S-GW may generate a CDR, and the CDR records theinformation about the service data.

S1110: The S-GW sends the service data and the information about theservice data to the P-GW.

Specifically, the S-GW encapsulates the service data into the GTP-U datapacket and sends the GTP-U data packet to the S-GW, and the header ofthe GTP-U data packet carries the information about the service data.

S1111: The P-GW charges the service data based on the information aboutthe service data.

The P-GW may generate a P-GW CDR, and the CDR records QoS information ofthe service data.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when determiningthat the terminal transmits the service data by using the NAS signalingmessage, the MME sends the second service authorization information ofthe terminal to the terminal, so that the terminal determines, based onthe second service authorization information, the information about thesent service data, and notifies the base station of the informationabout the service data; and the base station provides a service fortransmission of the service data based on the information about theservice data. In addition, the base station sends the information aboutthe service data to the P-GW and the S-GW, so that the P-GW and the S-GWcharges the service data based on the information about the servicedata. Different charging standards are used for transmission ofhigh-priority service data and transmission of low-priority service datathrough charging control, to prevent a low-priority terminal (a terminalcentering on the periodic report) from transmitting the service data byoverusing a high priority report, thereby reducing data transmissioncongestion due to that most terminals all send service data by using ahigh-priority report.

Embodiment 3

Based on the analysis of the quality of service requirement of theNB-IoT service, this embodiment of the present application provides aservice data transmission method. A mobility management entity providesinformation about service data to an access network device, and theinformation about the service data includes a priority of the servicedata and/or a service type of the service data, so that the accessnetwork device performs transmission resource management on the servicedata based on the information about the service data. As shown in FIG.12, the method includes the following steps.

S1201: The mobility management entity receives the service data of aterminal that is sent by a gateway.

Specifically, in an EPS system, the mobility management entity is anMME, and the gateway is an S-GW or a P-GW.

S1202: The mobility management entity obtains first information of theservice data, where the first information includes at least one of theservice type and the priority.

S1203: The mobility management entity sends a NAS signaling message tothe access network device, where the NAS signaling message carries theservice data.

S1204: The mobility management entity sends the service data and thefirst information of the service data to the access network device.

S1205: After receiving the first information of the service data, theaccess network device performs transmission resource management on theservice data based on the first information of the service data.

Specifically, the performing transmission resource management on theservice data based on the first information may be allocating atransmission resource, in other words, a network resource, to theto-be-sent service data based on the first information. For example, theservice type of the service data to be transmitted by the terminal is anexception report, and the exception report has a requirement on atransmission delay. Therefore, the network resource allocated by theaccess network device to the service data needs to satisfy the delayrequirement of the exception report.

Optionally, the obtaining, by the mobility management entity, firstinformation of the service data may be implemented in the followingmanners:

First Implementation:

The mobility management entity determines the first information of theservice data based on subscription information of the terminal.

The subscription information may include a priority and/or a servicetype of service data allowed to be sent by the terminal. For example, ifthe service type that is of the service data allowed to be sent by theterminal and that is included in the subscription information is aperiodic report, the mobility management entity determines that theservice type that is of the service data and that is included in thefirst information is the periodic report. Alternatively, if the servicetype that is of the service data allowed to be sent by the terminal andthat is included in the subscription information is the exceptionreport, the mobility management entity determines that the service typethat is of the service data and that is included in the firstinformation is the exception report.

Second Implementation:

The mobility management entity obtains the first information of theservice data from a header of a data packet of the service data, wherethe header of the data packet of the service data carries the firstinformation of the service data.

Specifically, the gateway may obtain the first information of theservice data from a DSCP (IPv4) or a ToS (IPv6) that is carried in theservice data.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the access network devicein an EPS system is an eNB, the gateway in the EPS system is a P-GW oran S-GW, and the mobility management entity in the EPS system is an MME.

Embodiment 3 is specifically described below by using a specificapplication scenario (where the EPS system is used as an example in thepresent invention), as shown in FIG. 12.

S1301: The P-GW sends service data of the terminal to the S-GW.

S1302: After receiving the service data, the S-GW sends the service datato the MME.

S1303: After receiving the service data, the MME obtains firstinformation of the service data from an HSS. When a header of a datapacket of the service data carries the first information, the MME mayalternatively obtain the first information of the service data from theheader of the data packet of the service data. In this embodiment, thepriority of the service data is used as an example of the firstinformation.

The header of the data packet of the service data carries adifferentiated services code point (DSCP) or a type of service (ToS),and the DSCP or the ToS includes the first information.

S1304: The MME sends the service data and the priority of the servicedata to the base station.

The MME determines the priority of the service data, generates an ARP oranother priority parameter, when sending a downlink NAS transportmessage, adds the service data and the corresponding priority parameterto the downlink NAS transport message, and sends the downlink NAStransport message to the base station.

S1305: After receiving the service data and the priority of the servicedata, the base station performs transmission resource management on theservice data based on the priority of the service data.

Specifically, the base station allocates a network resource to theservice data based on the priority of the service data, so that the basestation sends the service data to the terminal by using the allocatednetwork resource.

An embodiment of the present application further provides an accessnetwork device. As shown in FIG. 14, the access network device includes:

a determining unit 1401, configured to determine first information ofservice data to be sent by a terminal, where the first informationincludes at least one of a service type and a priority;

a receiving unit 1402, configured to receive the service data sent bythe terminal by using a NAS signaling message; and

a sending unit 1403, configured to send the service data received by thereceiving unit 1402 and the first information determined by thedetermining unit 1401 to a gateway, so that the gateway charges theservice data based on the first information.

In a possible design, the access network device may further include amanagement unit 1404, configured to perform transmission resourcemanagement on the service data based on the first information after thedetermining unit 1401 determines the first information of the servicedata to be sent by the terminal and before the receiving unit 1402receives the service data sent by the terminal by using the NASsignaling message.

In a possible design, the determining unit 1401 is specificallyconfigured to determine the first information when the receiving unit1402 receives the first information sent by the terminal.

In a possible design, the receiving unit 1402 is further configured toreceive second information sent by the terminal, where the secondinformation includes the service type and/or the priority that is usedby the terminal to request to transmit the service data.

The sending unit 1403 is further configured to send the secondinformation to a mobility management entity.

The receiving unit 1402 is further configured to receive first serviceauthorization information sent by the mobility management entity, wherethe first service authorization information is used to indicate that theservice type and/or the priority is allowed to be used by the terminalto transmit the service data.

The determining unit 1401 is specifically configured to determine thefirst information based on the first service authorization information.

In a possible design, the first service authorization informationincludes indication information, and the indication information is usedto indicate that the second information is allowed.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the unit division is anexample, is merely logical function division, and may be other divisionin an actual implementation. In addition, functional units in eachembodiment of the present application may be integrated into oneprocessor or may exist alone physically. Alternatively, two or moreunits may be integrated into one unit. The foregoing integrated unit maybe implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form ofa software functional module.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of hardware, asshown in FIG. 15, the access network device may include a receiver 1501,a processor 1502, and a communications interface 1503, and furtherincludes a memory 1504. The memory 1504 is configured to store programcode executed by the processor 1502. Physical hardware corresponding tothe sending unit 1403 may be the communications interface 1503, physicalhardware corresponding to the receiving unit 1402 may be the receiver1501, and physical hardware corresponding to the determining unit 1401and the management unit 1404 may be the processor 1502.

The processor 1502 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a digitalprocessing unit, or the like. The processor 1502 receives, by using thereceiver 1501, a message sent by the terminal, and receives a messagefrom or sends a message to the gateway and the mobility managemententity by using the communications interface 1503.

A specific connection medium between the receiver 1501, the processor1502, the communications interface 1503, and the memory 1504 is notlimited in this embodiment of the present invention. In this embodimentof the present invention, the receiver 1501, the processor 1502, thecommunications interface 1503, and the memory 1504 are connected byusing a bus 1505 in FIG. 15. The bus is represented by using a thickline in FIG. 15, and a connection manner between other components ismerely described as an example, and is not limited thereto. The bus maybe classified into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and thelike. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used torepresent the bus in FIG. 15, but this does not mean that there is onlyone bus or only one type of bus.

The memory 1504 may be a volatile memory, such as a random-access memory(RAM). Alternatively, the memory 1504 may be a non-volatile memory, suchas a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), ora solid-state drive (SSD). Alternatively, the memory 1504 is any othermedium that can be used to carry or store expected program code that hasan instruction or data structure form and that can be accessed by acomputer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 1504 may be acombination of the foregoing memories.

The processor 1502 is configured to determine first information ofservice data to be sent by the terminal, where the first informationincludes at least one of a service type and a priority.

The receiver 1501 is configured to receive the service data sent by theterminal by using a NAS signaling message.

The communications interface 1503 is configured to send the service dataand the first information to the gateway, so that the gateway chargesthe service data based on the first information.

In a possible design, after the processor 1502 determines the firstinformation of the service data to be sent by the terminal and beforethe receiver 1501 receives the service data sent by the terminal byusing the NAS signaling message, the processor 1502 is furtherconfigured to perform transmission resource management on the servicedata according to the first information.

In a possible design, the receiver 1501 is further configured to receivethe first information sent by the terminal.

In a possible design, the receiver 1501 is further configured to receivesecond information sent by the terminal, where the second informationincludes the service type and/or the priority that is used by theterminal to request to transmit the service data.

The communications interface 1503 is further configured to send thesecond information to the mobility management entity.

The communications interface 1503 is further configured to receive firstservice authorization information sent by the mobility managemententity, where the first service authorization information is used toindicate that the service type and/or the priority is allowed to be usedby the terminal to transmit the service data.

The processor 1502 is specifically configured to determine the firstinformation based on the first service authorization information.

In a possible design, the first service authorization informationincludes indication information, and the indication information is usedto indicate that the second information is allowed.

It should be noted that the access network device in the embodimentshown in FIG. 14 or FIG. 15 may be configured to perform operation stepsof the access network device or the base station in the method inEmbodiment 1 or each implementation scenario of Embodiment 1, anddetails are not described herein again.

An embodiment of the present application provides a mobility managemententity. As shown in FIG. 16, the mobility management entity includes:

a receiving unit 1601, configured to receive a NAS signaling message,where the NAS signaling message carries service data of a terminal;

an obtaining unit 1602, configured to obtain first information of theservice data received by the receiving unit 1601, where the firstinformation includes at least one of a service type and a priority; and

a sending unit 1603, configured to send the service data and the firstinformation to a gateway, so that the gateway charges the service data.

In a possible design, the obtaining unit 1602 is specifically configuredto obtain the first information when the receiving unit 1601 receivesthe first information sent by an access network device.

In a possible design, before receiving the first information sent by theaccess network device, the receiving unit 1601 is further configured toreceive second information sent by the access network device, where thesecond information includes the service type and/or the priority that isused by the terminal to request to transmit the service data.

The mobility management entity further includes an authorization unit1604, configured to authorize the second information based onsubscription information of the terminal to obtain first serviceauthorization information, where the first service authorizationinformation is used to indicate that the service type and/or thepriority is allowed to be used by the terminal to transmit the servicedata.

The sending unit 1603 is further configured to send the first serviceauthorization information to the access network device, so that theaccess network device determines the first information based on thefirst service authorization information.

In a possible design, the obtaining unit 1602 is specifically configuredto obtain the first information when the receiving unit 1601 receivesthe first information sent by the terminal.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the unit division is anexample, is merely logical function division, and may be other divisionin an actual implementation. In addition, functional units in eachembodiment of the present application may be integrated into oneprocessor or may exist alone physically. Alternatively, two or moreunits may be integrated into one unit. The foregoing integrated unit maybe implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form ofa software functional module.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of hardware, asshown in FIG. 17, the mobility management entity may include acommunications interface 1701, a processor 1702, and a memory 1703. Thememory 1703 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 1702. Physical hardware corresponding to the sending unit 1603may be the communications interface 1701, physical hardwarecorresponding to the receiving unit 1601 may be the communicationsinterface 1701, and physical hardware corresponding to the obtainingunit 1602 and the authorization unit 1604 may be the processor 1702.

The processor 1702 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a digitalprocessing unit, or the like. The processor 1702 receives and sendsmessages by using the communications interface 1701.

A specific connection medium between the communications interface 1701,the processor 1702, and the memory 1703 are not limited in thisembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the communications interface 1701, the processor 1702, andthe memory 1703 are connected by using a bus 1704 in FIG. 17. The bus isrepresented by using a thick line in FIG. 17, and a connection mannerbetween other components is merely described as an example, and is notlimited thereto. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a databus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only onethick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 17, but this does notmean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The memory 1703 may be a volatile memory, such as a RAM. Alternatively,the memory 1703 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a ROM, a flashmemory, an HDD, or an SSD. Alternatively, the memory 1703 is any othermedium that can be used to carry or store expected program code that hasan instruction or data structure form and that can be accessed by acomputer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 1703 may be acombination of the foregoing memories.

The communications interface 1701 is configured to receive a NASsignaling message, where the NAS signaling message carries service dataof a terminal.

The processor 1702 is configured to obtain first information of theservice data, where the first information includes at least one of aservice type of the service data and a priority of the service data.

The communications interface 1701 is configured to send the service dataand the first information to a gateway, so that the gateway charges theservice data.

In a possible design, the communications interface 1701 is furtherconfigured to receive the first information sent by an access networkdevice.

In a possible design, before receiving the first information sent by theaccess network device, the communications interface 1701 is furtherconfigured to receive second information sent by the access networkdevice, where the second information includes the service type and/orthe priority that is used by the terminal to request to transmit theservice data.

The processor 1702 is further configured to authorize the secondinformation based on subscription information of the terminal to obtainfirst service authorization information, where the first serviceauthorization information is used to indicate that the service typeand/or the priority is allowed to be used by the terminal to transmitthe service data.

The communications interface 1701 is further configured to send thefirst service authorization information to the access network device, sothat the access network device determines the first information based onthe first service authorization information.

In a possible design, the communications interface 1701 is furtherconfigured to receive the first information sent by the terminal.

It should be noted that the mobility management entity in the embodimentshown in FIG. 16 or FIG. 17 may be configured to perform operation stepsof the mobility management entity or the MME in the method in Embodiment1 or each implementation scenario of Embodiment 1, and details are notdescribed herein again.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a gateway. Asshown in FIG. 18, the gateway includes:

a receiving unit 1801, configured to receive service data of a terminaland first information of the service data that are sent by a mobilitymanagement entity, where the first information includes at least one ofa service type and a priority; and

a charging unit 1802, configured to charge the service data based on thefirst information received by the receiving unit 1801.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the unit division is anexample, is merely logical function division, and may be other divisionin an actual implementation. In addition, functional units in eachembodiment of the present application may be integrated into oneprocessor or may exist alone physically. Alternatively, two or moreunits may be integrated into one unit. The foregoing integrated unit maybe implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form ofa software functional module.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of hardware, asshown in FIG. 19, the gateway may include a communications interface1901, a processor 1902, and a memory 1903. The memory 1903 is configuredto store program code executed by the processor 1902. Physical hardwarecorresponding to the receiving unit 1801 may be the communicationsinterface 1901, and physical hardware corresponding to the charging unit1802 may be the processor 1902.

The processor 1902 may be a CPU, a digital processing unit, or the like.The processor 1902 receives and sends messages by using thecommunications interface 1901.

A specific connection medium between the communications interface 1901,the processor 1902, and the memory 1903 are not limited in thisembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the communications interface 1901, the processor 1902, andthe memory 1903 are connected by using a bus 1904 in FIG. 19. The bus isrepresented by using a thick line in FIG. 19, and a connection mannerbetween other components is merely described as an example, and is notlimited thereto. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a databus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only onethick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 19, but this does notmean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The memory 1903 may be a volatile memory, such as a RAM. Alternatively,the memory 1903 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a ROM, a flashmemory, an HDD, or an SSD. Alternatively, the memory 1903 is any othermedium that can be used to carry or store expected program code that hasan instruction or data structure form and that can be accessed by acomputer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 1903 may be acombination of the foregoing memories.

The communications interface 1901 is configured to receive service dataof a terminal and first information of the service data that are sent bya mobility management entity, where the first information includes atleast one of a service type and a priority.

The processor 1902 is configured to charge the service data based on thefirst information received by the communications interface 1901.

It should be noted that the gateway in the embodiment shown in FIG. 18or FIG. 19 may be configured to perform operation steps of the gateway,the S-GW, or the P-GW in the method in Embodiment 1 or eachimplementation scenario of Embodiment 1, and details are not describedherein again.

An embodiment of the present application further provides another accessnetwork device. As shown in FIG. 20, the access network device includes:

a receiving unit 2001, configured to receive service data sent by amobility management entity by using a NAS signaling message, and receiveinformation that is about the service data and that is sent by themobility management entity, where the information about the service dataincludes at least one of a service type of the service data and apriority of the service data; and

a management unit 2002, configured to perform transmission resourcemanagement on the service data based on the information that is aboutthe service data and that is received by the receiving unit 2001.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the unit division is anexample, is merely logical function division, and may be other divisionin an actual implementation. In addition, functional units in eachembodiment of the present application may be integrated into oneprocessor or may exist alone physically. Alternatively, two or moreunits may be integrated into one unit. The foregoing integrated unit maybe implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form ofa software functional module.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of hardware, asshown in FIG. 21, the access network device may include a communicationsinterface 2101 and a processor 2102, and further includes a memory 2103.The memory 2103 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 2102. Physical hardware corresponding to the receiving unit2001 may be the communications interface 2101, and physical hardwarecorresponding to the management unit 2002 may be the processor 2102. Thecommunications interface 2101 is configured to send data or a message toa terminal.

The processor 2102 may be a CPU, a digital processing unit, or the like.The processor 2102 receives and sends messages by using thecommunications interface 2101.

A specific connection medium between the communications interface 2101,the processor 2102, and the memory 2103 are not limited in thisembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the communications interface 2101, the processor 2102, andthe memory 2103 are connected by using a bus 2104 in FIG. 21. The bus isrepresented by using a thick line in FIG. 21, and a connection mannerbetween other components is merely described as an example, and is notlimited thereto. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a databus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only onethick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 21, but this does notmean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The memory 2103 may be a volatile memory, such as a RAM. Alternatively,the memory 2103 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a ROM, a flashmemory, an HDD, or an SSD. Alternatively, the memory 2103 is any othermedium that can be used to carry or store expected program code that hasan instruction or data structure form and that can be accessed by acomputer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 2103 may be acombination of the foregoing memories.

The communications interface 2101 is configured to receive service datasent by a mobility management entity by using a NAS signaling message,and receive information that is about the service data and that is sentby the mobility management entity, where the information about theservice data includes at least one of a service type of the service dataand a priority of the service data. The processor 2102 is configured toperform transmission resource management on the service data based onthe information about the service data.

It should be noted that the access network device in the embodimentshown in FIG. 20 or FIG. 21 may be configured to perform operation stepsof the access network device or the base station in the method inEmbodiment 3 or each implementation scenario of Embodiment 3, anddetails are not described herein again.

An embodiment of the present application provides a mobility managemententity. As shown in FIG. 22, the mobility management entity includes:

a receiving unit 2201, configured to receive service data of a terminalthat is sent by a gateway;

an obtaining unit 2202, configured to obtain first information of theservice data received by the receiving unit 2201, where the firstinformation includes at least one of a service type of the service dataand a priority of the service data; and

a sending unit 2203, configured to send a NAS signaling message to anaccess network device, where the NAS signaling message carries theservice data obtained by the obtaining unit 2202; and send the firstinformation to the access network device, so that the access networkdevice performs transmission resource management on the service databased on the first information.

In a possible design, the obtaining unit 2202 is specifically configuredto determine the first information based on subscription information ofthe terminal.

Alternatively, the obtaining unit 2202 obtains the first informationfrom a header of a data packet of the service data, where the header ofthe data packet of the service data carries the first information.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the unit division is anexample, is merely logical function division, and may be other divisionin an actual implementation. In addition, functional units in eachembodiment of the present application may be integrated into oneprocessor or may exist alone physically. Alternatively, two or moreunits may be integrated into one unit. The foregoing integrated unit maybe implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form ofa software functional module.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of hardware, asshown in FIG. 23, the mobility management entity may include acommunications interface 2301, a processor 2302, and a memory 2303. Thememory 2303 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 2302. Physical hardware corresponding to the receiving unit2201 may be the communications interface 2301, and physical hardwarecorresponding to the obtaining unit 2202 may be the processor 2302.Physical hardware corresponding to the sending unit 2203 may be thecommunications interface 2301.

The processor 2302 may be a CPU, a digital processing unit, or the like.The processor 2302 receives and sends messages by using thecommunications interface 2301.

A specific connection medium between the communications interface 2301,the processor 2302, and the memory 2303 are not limited in thisembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the communications interface 2301, the processor 2302, andthe memory 2303 are connected by using a bus 2304 in FIG. 23. The bus isrepresented by using a thick line in FIG. 23, and a connection mannerbetween other components is merely described as an example, and is notlimited thereto. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a databus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only onethick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 23, but this does notmean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The memory 2303 may be a volatile memory, such as a RAM. Alternatively,the memory 2303 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a ROM, a flashmemory, an HDD, or an SSD. Alternatively, the memory 2303 is any othermedium that can be used to carry or store expected program code that hasan instruction or data structure form and that can be accessed by acomputer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 2303 may be acombination of the foregoing memories.

The communications interface 2301 is configured to receive service dataof a terminal that is sent by a gateway.

The processor 2302 is configured to obtain first information of theservice data, where the first information includes at least one of aservice type of the service data and a priority of the service data.

The communications interface 2301 is configured to send a NAS signalingmessage to an access network device, where the NAS signaling messagecarries the service data; and send the first information to the accessnetwork device, so that the access network device performs transmissionresource management on the service data based on the first information.

In a possible design, the processor 2302 is specifically configured todetermine the first information based on subscription information of theterminal.

Alternatively, the processor 2302 is specifically configured to obtainthe first information from a header of a data packet of the servicedata, where the header of the data packet of the service data carriesthe first information.

It should be noted that the mobility management entity in the embodimentshown in FIG. 22 or FIG. 23 may be configured to perform operation stepsof the mobility management entity or the MME in the method in Embodiment3 or each implementation scenario of Embodiment 3, and details are notdescribed herein again.

An embodiment of the present application provides a mobility managemententity. As shown in FIG. 24, the mobility management entity includes:

a receiving unit 2401, configured to receive a request message, wherethe request message includes transmission mode indication information,and the transmission mode indication information is used to instruct aterminal to transmit service data by using a NAS signaling message;

a determining unit 2402, configured to determine second serviceauthorization information of the terminal based on subscriptioninformation of the terminal when determining, based on the requestmessage, that the terminal transmits the service data by using the NASsignaling message, where the second service authorization informationincludes information used to indicate a service type and/or a prioritythat is allowed to be used by the terminal to transmit the service data;and

a sending unit 2403, configured to send the second service authorizationinformation determined by the determining unit 2402 to the terminal.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the unit division is anexample, is merely logical function division, and may be other divisionin an actual implementation. In addition, functional units in eachembodiment of the present application may be integrated into oneprocessor or may exist alone physically. Alternatively, two or moreunits may be integrated into one unit. The foregoing integrated unit maybe implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form ofa software functional module.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of hardware, asshown in FIG. 25, the mobility management entity may include acommunications interface 2501, a processor 2502, and a memory 2503. Thememory 2503 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 2502. Physical hardware corresponding to the receiving unit2401 may be the communications interface 2501, and physical hardwarecorresponding to the determining unit 2402 may be the processor 2502.Physical hardware corresponding to the sending unit 2403 may be thecommunications interface 2501.

The processor 2502 may be a CPU, a digital processing unit, or the like.The processor 2502 receives a message by using the communicationsinterface 2501 and sends a message by using the communications interface2501.

A specific connection medium between the communications interface 2501,the processor 2502, and the memory 2503 are not limited in thisembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the communications interface 2501, the processor 2502, andthe memory 2503 are connected by using a bus 2504 in FIG. 25. The bus isrepresented by using a thick line in FIG. 25, and a connection mannerbetween other components is merely described as an example, and is notlimited thereto. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a databus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only onethick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 25, but this does notmean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The memory 2503 may be a volatile memory, such as a RAM. Alternatively,the memory 2503 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a ROM, a flashmemory, an HDD, or an SSD. Alternatively, the memory 2503 is any othermedium that can be used to carry or store expected program code that hasan instruction or data structure form and that can be accessed by acomputer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 2503 may be acombination of the foregoing memories.

The communications interface 2501 is configured to receive a requestmessage, where the request message includes transmission mode indicationinformation, and the transmission mode indication information is used toinstruct a terminal to transmit service data by using a NAS signalingmessage.

The processor 2502 is configured to determine second serviceauthorization information of the terminal based on subscriptioninformation of the terminal when determining, based on the requestmessage, that the terminal transmits the service data by using the NASsignaling message, where the second service authorization informationincludes information used to indicate a service type and/or a prioritythat is allowed to be used by the terminal to transmit the service data.

The communications interface 2501 is further configured to send thesecond service authorization information to the terminal.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

It should be noted that the mobility management entity in the embodimentshown in FIG. 24 or FIG. 25 may be configured to perform operation stepsof the mobility management entity or the MME in the method in Embodiment2 or each implementation scenario of Embodiment 2, and details are notdescribed herein again.

An embodiment of the present application provides a terminal. As shownin FIG. 26, the terminal includes:

a sending unit 2601, configured to send a request message to a mobilitymanagement entity, where the request message includes transmission modeindication information, and the transmission mode indication informationis used to instruct the terminal to transmit service data by using a NASsignaling message;

a receiving unit 2602, configured to receive second serviceauthorization information sent by the mobility management entity, wherethe second service authorization information includes information usedto indicate a service type and/or a priority that is allowed to be usedby the terminal to transmit the service data; and

a determining unit 2603, configured to determine information about theservice data based on the second service authorization informationreceived by the receiving unit 2602, where the information about theservice data includes at least one of the service type of the servicedata and the priority of the service data.

The sending unit 2601 is further configured to send the information thatis about the service data and that is determined by the determining unit2603 to the access network device.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the unit division is anexample, is merely logical function division, and may be other divisionin an actual implementation. In addition, functional units in eachembodiment of the present application may be integrated into oneprocessor or may exist alone physically. Alternatively, two or moreunits may be integrated into one unit. The foregoing integrated unit maybe implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form ofa software functional module.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of hardware, asshown in FIG. 27, the terminal may include a receiver 2701, a processor2702, and a transmitter 2703, and further includes a memory 2704. Thememory 2704 is configured to store program code executed by theprocessor 2702. Physical hardware corresponding to the receiving unit2602 may be the receiver 2701, and physical hardware corresponding tothe determining unit 2603 may be the processor 2702. Physical hardwarecorresponding to the sending unit 2601 may be the transmitter 2703.

The processor 2702 may be a CPU, a digital processing unit, or the like.The processor 2702 receives a message by using the receiver 2701 andsends a message by using the transmitter 2703.

A specific connection medium between the receiver 2701, the processor2702, the transmitter 2703, and the memory 2704 are not limited in thisembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the receiver 2701, the processor 2702, the transmitter 2703,and the memory 2704 are connected by using a bus 2705 in FIG. 27. Thebus is represented by using a thick line in FIG. 27, and a connectionmanner between other components is merely described as an example, andis not limited thereto. The bus may be classified into an address bus, adata bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, onlyone thick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 27, but this doesnot mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The memory 2704 may be a volatile memory, such as a RAM. Alternatively,the memory 2704 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a ROM, a flashmemory, an HDD, or an SSD. Alternatively, the memory 2704 is any othermedium that can be used to carry or store expected program code that hasan instruction or data structure form and that can be accessed by acomputer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 2704 may be acombination of the foregoing memories.

The transmitter 2703 is configured to send a request message to amobility management entity, where the request message includestransmission mode indication information, and the transmission modeindication information is used to instruct the terminal to transmitservice data by using a NAS signaling message.

The receiver 2701 is configured to receive second service authorizationinformation sent by the mobility management entity, where the secondservice authorization information includes information used to indicatea service type and/or a priority that is allowed to be used by theterminal to transmit the service data.

The processor 2702 is configured to determine information about theservice data based on the second service authorization information,where the information about the service data includes at least one ofthe service type of the service data and the priority of the servicedata.

The transmitter 2703 is further configured to send the information aboutthe service data to the access network device.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes first quota information, and the first quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of theservice type and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

In a possible design, the second service authorization informationfurther includes second quota information, and the second quotainformation is used to indicate a volume of service data that is of thepriority and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time.

It should be noted that the terminal in the embodiment shown in FIG. 26or FIG. 27 may be configured to perform operation steps of the terminalor the UE in the method in Embodiment 2 or each implementation scenarioof Embodiment 2, and details are not described herein again.

Persons skilled in the art should understand that embodiments of thepresent application may be provided as a method, a system, or a computerprogram product. Therefore, the present application may use a form ofhardware only embodiments, software only embodiments, or embodimentswith a combination of software and hardware. Moreover, the presentapplication may use a form of a computer program product that isimplemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including butnot limited to a disk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, and the like)that include computer-usable program code.

The present application is described with reference to the flowchartsand/or block diagrams of the method, the device (system), and thecomputer program product according to the present invention. It shouldbe understood that computer program instructions may be used toimplement each process and/or each block in the flowcharts and/or theblock diagrams and a combination of a process and/or a block in theflowcharts and/or the block diagrams. These computer programinstructions may be provided for a general-purpose computer, aspecial-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or a processor of anyother programmable data processing device to constitute a machine, sothat the instructions executed by a computer or a processor of any otherprogrammable data processing device constitute a device for implementinga specific function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or inone or more blocks in the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may be stored in a computer-readablememory that can instruct the computer or any other programmable dataprocessing device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructionsstored in the computer-readable memory provide an instruction apparatus.The instruction apparatus implements a specific function in one or moreprocesses in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the blockdiagrams.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a computer oranother programmable data processing device, so that a series ofoperations and steps are performed on the computer or the anotherprogrammable device, thereby generating computer-implemented processing.Therefore, the instructions executed on the computer or the anotherprogrammable device provide steps for implementing a specific functionin one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocksin the block diagrams.

Although some embodiments of the present application have beendescribed, persons skilled in the art can make changes and modificationsto these embodiments.

Persons skilled in the art can make various modifications and variationsto the present application without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention. The present application is intended to coverthese modifications and variations provided that they fall within thescope of protection defined by the following claims and their equivalenttechnologies.

Additionally, statements made herein characterizing the invention referto an embodiment of the invention and not necessarily all embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A service data transmission method, comprising:receiving, by a terminal, service authorization information from amobility management entity, wherein the service authorizationinformation comprises information indicating a service type that isallowed to be used by the terminal for transmitting service data,wherein the service authorization information further comprises firstquota information, wherein the first quota information indicates avolume of service data that is of the service type and that is allowedto be sent within a particular time, and wherein the service typecomprises at least one of the following: an exception report servicetype, a periodic report service type, a network command service type, ora software upgrading/reconfiguration service type; and sending, by theterminal based on the service authorization information, informationabout the service data to an access network device, wherein theinformation about the service data comprises the service type of theservice data.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein theinformation about the service data is carried by a radio resourcecontrol (RRC) connection setup request message.
 3. The method accordingto claim 2, wherein the RRC connection setup request message comprisesan RRC connection setup cause value, and the RRC connection setup causevalue is the information about the service data.
 4. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the information about the service data facilitatesthe access network device allocating a transmission resource for theservice type of the service data.
 5. The method according to claim 4,wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the terminal, theservice data to the access network device via non-access stratum (NAS)signaling based on the transmission resource.
 6. The method according toclaim 5, wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the terminalto the mobility management entity, transmission mode indicationinformation indicating that the terminal transmits service data via aNAS signaling message.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein thetransmission mode indication information is carried by an attach requestmessage.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the service type isthe exception report service type, and the method further comprises:determining, by the terminal, that a volume of sent service data of theexception report service type has not reached the volume indicated inthe first quota information; and based on determining that the volume ofsent service data of the exception report service type has not reachedthe volume indicated in the first quota information, sending, by theterminal, additional service data of the exception report service type.9. A terminal, comprising: a memory storing processor-executableinstructions; and a processor in communication with the memory; whereinthe processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor,facilitate performance of the following by the terminal: receivingservice authorization information from a mobility management entity,wherein the service authorization information comprises informationindicating a service type that is allowed to be used by the terminal fortransmitting service data, wherein the service authorization informationfurther comprises first quota information, wherein the first quotainformation indicates a volume of service data that is of the servicetype and that is allowed to be sent within a particular time, andwherein the service type comprises at least one of the following: anexception report service type, a periodic report service type, a networkcommand service type, or a software upgrading/reconfiguration servicetype; and sending, based on the service authorization information,information about the service data to an access network device, whereinthe information about the service data comprises the service type of theservice data.
 10. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein theinformation about the service data is carried by a radio resourcecontrol (RRC) connection setup request message.
 11. The terminalaccording to claim 10, wherein the RRC connection setup request messagecomprises an RRC connection setup cause value, and the RRC connectionsetup cause value is the information about the service data.
 12. Theterminal according to claim 9, wherein the processor-executableinstructions, when executed by the processor, further facilitateperformance of the following by the terminal: determining that a volumeof sent service data of the exception report service type has notreached the volume indicated in the first quota information; and basedon determining that the volume of sent service data of the exceptionreport service type has not reached the volume indicated in the firstquota information, sending additional service data of the exceptionreport service type.
 13. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein theinformation about the service data facilitates the access network deviceallocating a transmission resource for the service type of the servicedata.
 14. The terminal according to claim 13, wherein theprocessor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor,further facilitate performance of the following by the terminal: sendingthe service data to the access network device via non-access stratum(NAS) signaling based on the transmission resource.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium comprising processor-executableinstructions, wherein the processor-executable instructions, whenexecuted, facilitate: receiving service authorization information from amobility management entity, wherein the service authorizationinformation comprises information indicating a service type that isallowed to be used by the terminal for transmitting the service data,wherein the service authorization information further comprises firstquota information, wherein the first quota information indicates avolume of service data that is of the service type and that is allowedto be sent within a particular time, and wherein the service typecomprises at least one of the following: an exception report servicetype, a periodic report service type, a network command service type, ora software upgrading/reconfiguration service type; and sending, based onthe second service authorization information, information about theservice data to an access network device, wherein the information aboutthe service data comprises the service type of the service data.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 15,wherein the information about the service data is carried by a radioresource control (RRC) connection setup request message.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 16,wherein the RRC connection setup request message comprises an RRCconnection setup cause value, and the RRC connection setup cause valueis the information about the service data.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein theinformation about the service data facilitates the access network deviceallocating a transmission resource for the service type of the servicedata.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium accordingto claim 15, wherein the processor-executable instructions, whenexecuted, further facilitate: sending the service data to the accessnetwork device via non-access stratum (NAS) signaling based on thetransmission resource.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium according to claim 15, wherein the processor-executableinstructions, when executed, further facilitate: determining that avolume of sent service data of the exception report service type has notreached the volume indicated in the first quota information; and basedon determining that the volume of sent service data of the exceptionreport service type has not reached the volume indicated in the firstquota information, sending additional service data of the exceptionreport service type.